Story of the Sage of Six Paths
by Zombiewombat
Summary: Ever wondered who the Sage of Six Paths was? How their journey began? Learn all there is to know about Yuki,the Sage of the Six Paths, and her friends as they journey through the pre-Naruto world!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if for some reason you thought that I did.

Have you heard the ancient stories of the time before the Sage of Six Paths arrived? Did you hear of the endless war and the many lives it took? Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to live back then? What it would have been like? What would you do to survive? Here is a story that can show you the hardships and difficulties that were overcome to put an end to this time of suffering and death: the story of the Sage of Six Paths.

Yuki looked around quickly through the pouring rain. It was so thick she could barely see. "Grandmother!" she yelled. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here, child." A hand appeared on her shoulder.

"Grandma." Yuki could feel her warm, gentle chakra.

"Let's go, Yukiko." The old woman took off, sprinting through the trees, so fast she seemed to cut a path in the rain as it fell. Yuki followed after. Suddenly, the tree next to her burst into flames. She shrieked and fell, missing the next branch, slamming into the hard ground.

"Ugh…." She tried to sit up, but her leg wouldn't hold her. A foot appeared next to her. As well as a blade at her throat. "D**n," she thought, "not again."

"Stay down," the ninja said. Yuki happily followed the stranger's command. She suspected her grandmother was already far ahead, too far to help. The ninja had bright pink hair and loose fitting clothes made of a dark, cheap fabric.

"Be quiet," she said in hushed tones. "Don't say a word and we might survive."

"Didn't you just blow up that tree?" Yuki whispered as best she could with a knife at her throat.

"No, that was the beast." Another tree toppled over. The pink haired ninja's eyes widened. "Oh no, here it comes." She leaped away. Yuki struggled to get up, but couldn't. Something crashed through the trees. A giant tentacle wrapped around Yuki and lifted her away. She was suddenly face to face with a giant ox with tentacles. "AWESOME!" Yuki thought, "its like an ox-topus!"

"What did you just call me?"

"What who said that?" Yuki wondered.

"It was me, the 'ox-topus.'"

The voice did seem to be coming from the giant monster. "Do you speak English?" Yuki asked carefully.

"No, but I can use telepathy to communicate."

"That is so cool!" Yuki's jaw dropped in amazement.

"However, it usually doesn't work with humans. I don't understand why it worked with you."

"So, are you actually half ox, half octopus?" the young girl asked in wonder.

"No, this is just one of the many forms I can take. "

"Do you usually answer questions people ask you?"

"Well people don't ask me many questions before I kill them." The ox-topus licked its lips.

"Y-y-y-you're not planning on eating me." Her eyes widened. "Are you?"

"Well, I was, but now that I've had such an interesting conversation…" the beast looked down sadly, "I haven't actually had a conversation with a human before. May I ask you your name, human?"

"Yuki," the girl answered.

The ox-topus set Yuki down. "Maybe we will meet again, Yuki. I hope to have a 'conversation' with you again." The beast then lumbered away, knocking over trees as it went.

Yuki sat down in the grass. "Well, well, well," said a voice from behind a tree. Yuki looked over. It was her grandmother.

"You still alive, child?"

"I believe so," Yuki answered, a little shaken.

"Never seen a person have a conversation with the 10 tails before, not in all my life." She shook her head. "You have a talent, Yukiko. Learn how to use it."

"Yes, grandmother," Yuki nodded her head obediently.

"You must do this on your own, child. I cannot help you." The old woman ruffled her granddaughter's snow-white hair. She smiled sadly. "This is good bye."

Yuki's eyes filled with tears. "Why do you have to go?" she shouted. "This isn't fair!"

"This world isn't fair, child. People die everyday for no reason. The ones who live, always live poorly. Life is filled with death and suffering. Remember that and only trust those whose thoughts you can hear."

"Hear?" Yuki turned her head to the side. "I suppose I do hear things from you even when you don't say anything."

"Yes, child. That is your talent. I wish you the best of luck in learning it." The old woman's eyes welled up with tears. "I'm so proud of you, Yukiko. I will never forget you. Good bye." And the old woman vanished into the dark, wet, forest.

Well, that is the first chapter! I hope you liked it. I WILL write more of this one than my last one. (I actually have a plan for writing, this time). * wink * I will do my best to be historically accurate to the anime/manga, so tell me if I do happen to majorly contradict it somehow. Anyways, more to come! Soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto. sigh

Yuki sat in the mud for a while, thinking. Thinking about her future and what she would do, when a cold nose nudged her arm. She recoiled from the sudden coldness. It was a dog. An all-white, black nosed, dog with thick fluffy fur that was towered over where she sat. Yuki stared at the wall of fluff that was surrounding her.

"Fluff!"

"Oh Ninja Gods, the dog is talking to me." Yuki groaned as she put her head in her hands.

"Me like name Fluff!" the dog barked happily and smiled. "Do dogs smile?" Yuki thought to herself. "Ugh, I am so doomed."

"Fluff will save you!" Fluff said, shaking his fur and panting enthusiastically. "Climb on Fluff's back and everything will be okay!"

Yuki sighed. She had nothing to lose, since she had no belongings, other than the white shirt and skirt that she wore everyday. Her grandmother had never allowed her to bring anything else with her. "Never waste your day with stuff that decays," grandma had said. Yuki shook her head, snapping herself out of her daydream. She climbed carefully onto the fluffy dog's back. Her leg still hurt so she stayed off of it.

"To ADVENTURE!" Fluff cried, as he dashed through the woods.

They ran through the woods for a few days and Yuki began to wonder how big the forest really was. The duo continued to run until a river blocked their path. It was shallow and easy to cross, but they took it as a chance to rest and take a drink. Fluff lapped up water quietly and Yuki knelt to take a sip. Suddenly, a blade emerged from the under the water and touched Yuki's cheek. It was so sneaky that Fluff didn't even look up from his drink. A head surfaced from the river as well. "Don't move." It said. Yuki's eyes widened. It was the same pink haired ninja who had threatened her earlier. The kunoichi's eyes widened in surprise as she came to the same conclusion.

"How are you still alive?" she asked. "You should be dead."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence. I don't even know you and you've already threatened me, twice! Who are you?"

The woman looked uncomfortable. "I can't tell you that"

"Well sure you can. It's easy. You start with my name is… and you fill in the rest!" Yuki crossed her arms impatiently.

"You don't understand. I literally can't tell you."

"What do you…?" Yuki never got to finish her question. Suddenly, something whizzed past Yuki and the pink haired ninja. When it lodged itself in a tree, it sort of looked like a maple leaf, although Yuki wasn't sure how she knew that considering she had never seen a maple tree before, much less its leaf. Another figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a young man with hair the color of his specially shaped shuriken. He wore a brown shirt and shorts that blended in with the forest nicely.

"Don't you dare say anything," he said to pink hair. She looked like she was going to have a melt down. Her hands shook and she was sweating like crazy, which was really disgusting considering we were in the same river.

"Who are you?" He said looking straight at Yuki, "and what are you doing here?"

"Well me and Fluff here were just stopping for a drink and…" the man was staring at her strangely. "What? She asked, "did I do something weird?"

"How did you know my question," he said slowly, "before I asked it?"

"Ummmm," Yuki replied. Should I tell him, she wondered. Eh, why not?

"I can hear your thoughts." Yuki stated truthfully. The man in brown stared at her like she was some sort of alien, which she supposed was sort of normal.

"Grandmother said that I could trust the people whose thoughts I can hear." The man's expression only got more confused.

"I think I should take you to the boss. My name is Kaede." Said the man in brown. Well that makes sense, Yuki decided; it would explain the shuriken at least.

Meanwhile, Fluff had finished his drink. He let out a large belch and noticed that there were new people.

"HALLO!" he woofed as he ran over to pink hair and gave her a big lick. Surprisingly she laughed. In the two times, Yuki had met her; she would have assumed that she would never smile her whole life. However, Kaede seemed to have changed her composure. She seemed more relaxed now that the man had taken his attention from her.

Once Fluff finished licking her, pink hair finally talked again. "My name is Akiko." And she smiled the biggest, most dazzling smile Yuki had ever seen.

Well here it is! See I can follow up on my promises. Anyways, how are you liking it? Got a favorite character by any chance? Tell me! Review! Reviews always help keep the plot mice running. Thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Still.

As the four walked through the woods, a light shone through the trees. The sun was rising; a sight Yuki had seen many times, but had never appreciated it this much. Yuki looked around at her new friend and captors. Fluff seemed to be enjoying the walk through the forest, which was probably normal for a dog, Yuki supposed. Akiko walked with a new sense of purpose as if she was relieved that hadn't been killed yet. Kaede had something on his mind and Yuki could easily guess what it was, as well as hear it; the fact that she could listen to his thoughts and the more worrying fact that she couldn't hear Akiko's. Now that she thought about it she really hadn't heard anything from Akiko, even when she started smiling. Suddenly Kaede stopped in front of a large rock formation.

"Here we are." Then he lifted his arms and an intricate seal formed on the rocks. The seal disappeared just as soon as it had appeared and a space in the cliff took its place. Kaede and Akiko walked toward the rocks. Yuki and Fluff followed afterward.

How did they do that? Yuki wondered, I've never seen anything like that before.

Inside the cliff was a huge cavern that had several hallways branching off of it. In the center was seven other ninjas, each of which stranger than the first. One had purple hair and was munching on an apple, with a sword strapped to his side that seemed to change colors as you looked at it. The girl next to him seemed to writing poetry and then making origami out of them. A guy with dark hair appeared to be sleeping, and the one next to him was making shapes out of clay, seemingly without using his hands. The woman next to them appeared to be making light come out of her hands, repeatedly. The last girl was polishing a blade that was as blue as the sky. They all looked up as Kaede, Akiko, Fluff, and Yuki walked in, except for the sleeping guy.

"Who have brought Kaede?" the guy with the clay asked, as he shifted it around in his palm. "You know you're not supposed to bring outsiders to our base. They might bring more."

"Well, she seems to be special," Kaede turned to Yuki, "can you hear any of their thoughts?" Yuki thought about it.

"Yes," she replied, "the man with the clay thinks you're an idiot, the girl with the poetry wants me to go away, the lady making hand puppets on the wall thinks that I shouldn't be here, the dude eating fruit hasn't even noticed I'm here, the sleeping guy is just pretending to be asleep, and the girl with the blade is thinking about how much fun it would be to slice off my head" The people around the room stared at her in shock. Even the guy pretending to sleep had opened an eye in surprise.

"Well, it is true that she has some talents," the guy with the clay shifted nervously, "but can she survive? How do we know that she will be able to contribute to our organization?"

Kaede spoke up in her defense, "Well, she has somehow managed to escape the wrath of the Juubi." The stares of the people in the circle widened. "And, she has survived in these woods, with only the help of her dog."

"That's me!" Fluff barked proudly, wagging his tail.

Clay man was silent for a moment.

"Well, I suppose she ought to meet the leader," he said slowly.

"Yes, that was the reason I brought her here," Kaede turned, briskly guiding Yuki down one of the hallways. "Are you ready?" he whispered to her as they walked.

"Ready for what?" They had reached the door at the end of the hallway. Kaede pushed her through

"Good luck." He said as the door closed behind her.

There, in front of her, sat Yuki's grandmother, at a desk made of fine wood,

"Hello, child"

Ta-da! The end of another chapter! IS it good? Bad? Any ideas on what it needs? Review! Don't let the plot mice starve! Thanks for reading again! Hope you'll stick around for the next chapter! Oh, by the way, wondering what the names of the characters mean? (Other than Fluff, I mean) Well, here they are!

Yuki/Yukiko-Snow (you'll see why)

Akiko- sparkle, bright (her smile)

Kaede- Maple (kinda obvious)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Still do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

Yuki stared in shock at her grandmother.

"How did you get here?" she looked down, "I thought…"

"Foolish girl," said a deep voice, defiantly not belonging to her grandmother. Yuki looked up in surprise. Instead of her grandmother, a huge guy with dark skin and a long ponytail sat behind the desk.

"Wha..?" Yuki shook her head. When she looked back, there was a black cat sitting on the desk, the man and her grandmother gone.

"What is going on?" Yuki grabbed her head in confusion.

The cat shook its head.

"You can't let yourself be taken down so easily, Yukiko."

"How do you know my name? How did you know my grandmother?" Yuki wiped away tears. "Who are you?"

"I am Kouki, the leader of this organization."

"Cookie?" Yuki ears perked up. "Did I hear cookie?"

"Ugh, why does everyone say that? No, Kouki, K-o-u-k-i."

"Oooooh."

"Anyways, back to your questions. I don't know your grandmother. We have never met. I have never seen her before. However, she did come to me with a request."

A request?"

"Yes, a request." The cat sighed. "She wanted me to train you. To help you develop your powers. To help you survive."

"Really? My grandmother did all that for me?"

"Of course."

And you did this for free?"

"Well, yes. We can always use another member."

"So, what does your organization do exactly?"

"We work toward building a better future. One without wars and bloodshed. We hope that this can be accomplished through using the Juubi, the Ten Tails. I believe you have met it?"

"Yes, we had a nice conversation."

Yuki told the cat of her talk with the ox-topus.

The cat nodded. "Yes, that is one of its many forms. There are ten in total, and only one is the true one."

"How would you know?"

"I have learned much about the Juubi from years of surveillance."

"Have you ever seen this 'true form' before?"

"Only once." The cat shivered. When the cat didn't continue, Yuki asked, "How would the Juubi be used to help the world? I mean, its not like you could control it or anything, is there?"

"Oh, there are ways. However, we do not know of them. Only that they exist. This is the first task of our organization, to find the method. We will find out how to use it after we know what it is."

"Do you have any leads?"

The cat looked at her. "Does this mean that you will help us?"

"My grandmother trusted you, why shouldn't I?"

"Reasonable." The cat nodded. "Will your, um, friend being staying too?" Kaiko flicked his tail uncomfortably.

"Yes, Fluff will be staying too." Yuki nodded.

"Then our conversation is done." Kaiko leaped off of the desk. As he did, he transformed back into the man with the ponytail. "Follow me," he said in his deep voice.

Kaiko lead Yuki to a room nearby his office. "This will be your room for now." As the door opened, Yuki could see that the room was open for improvement. The 'room' was a small cave with a mat, blanket, and torch.

"You will also be sharing with the dog that you insist on keeping around." Fluff was already inside, asleep on the rough floor.

"Training starts tomorrow at dawn. Be ready." Kaiko turned to leave. "Oh, and starting tomorrow, Kaede will be your trainer." The door closed and the room became dark. As Yuki climbed onto her mat and pulled the blanket over her, she smiled and knew that she was ready for whatever the world would throw at her.

Another chapter done! I've bored, so I hope you like reading it. More to come. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. There, I said it, are you happy? Sigh, anyways, on with the story…

Yuki woke up the next morning to a cold bucket of water. As she gasped for breath and tried to wipe the water out of her eyes, she noticed Kaede in the doorway.

"Is that how you wake all your guests?"

Kaede shrugged. "Usually. You better come quick or you'll miss breakfast."

Yuki wandered through the caves until she found her way back to the main entrance where she had come in yesterday. On the table was a bowl of rice. Yuki blinked. "Is that it?"

"Well if you had gotten here sooner, there would have been more to eat." Kaede said, as he sat in the corner. "Even your dog beat you." Fluff sat up and barked, in case Yuki had missed him.

"So, where did everyone else go?" Yuki asked as she ate her rice.

"They all left on missions already." Kaede sighed, "you really are slow for a person who can read minds."

"It's early!" Yuki objected, "This is also my first day…"

"You done yet?"

"Yup."

"Then we're going outside to start your training." Kaede stood up. "Come on Fluff."

"Woof!"

Yuki sat eagerly on the grass, next to Fluff as Kaede leaned on a tree.

"Today, you will show me what you can do."

"Like…?"

Kaede rolled his eyes. "Like if you needed to defend yourself."

"Oh, well, I have this kunai." Yuki took out a kunai that was clear and appeared to be made of ice. "Grandma gave me this. She also taught me to use, um… Kaede?"

Kaede was staring at the icicle kunai. "That…is the best made kunai I have ever seen." He looked at her. Where did your Grandmother get this?"

Yuki shrugged. "She said that she got it from her mother. It's been in my family for a long time apparently."

Kaede didn't seem to believe her. "Continue."

"I learned how to use snow and ice to protect myself."

"Show me."

Yuki put her hands in front of her and concentrated. Around her, the air cooled and frost began to form. A burst of snow went shooting forward, knocking down the tree next to Kaede.

"Impressive," he said. "What about you, Fluff?"

Woof!"

Yuki translated. "He says he growl and bite like a monster." She shrugged. "I don't know what that's supposed to mean."

"Er, can you show us, Fluff?"

"Arf!"

Fluff squinted his eyes and began to concentrate. His fur seemed to puff up, making him larger than he had been before. Yuki and Kaede leaned forward in anticipation.

"Woof."

"He says he can't do it right now." Yuki and Kaede sighed in disappointment.

"For today, just practice those techniques so that you can use them anytime, whenever you need it."

"Hai!"

"Woof!"

As the sun went down, Yuki and Fluff grew tired.

"Kaede," Yuki whined, "can we be done now?"

"It depends, will you be ready for tomorrow?"

"What's happening tomorrow?"

"You'll find out." Kaede grinned, which seemed very unusual for him.

"Woooof."

"I agree, Fluff. We're as ready as we are gonna be. Can we go now?"

"You can go, but don't blame me."

The trio walked back into the hideout. The same group Yuki had seen the other day greeted them as they came in. They looked up in silence, stopping their conversations.

"Uh, hi everybody…" Yuki smiled and waved awkwardly. "Um, I'm new here, so introductions would be good…"

"Yeah everybody, introduce yourselves," Akiko said, a little drunk. "Don't be shy, * hiccup *"

"I'll go first since nobody else is," the guy with the clay said, "I'm Daichi."

"Amaya," origami girl spoke up next.

"Minoru," fruit man said.

"Aoi," the girl with the blue blade mumbled.

"Ryuu," the sleeping dude snored.

"Hotaru," said the girl with light up hands, as she pushed back her dark hair with purple streaks.

"Well that's everyone." Kaede said. "Now you need to rest up. You've got a big day tomorrow."

"No dinner? I didn't get lunch either." Yuki pouted.

Kaede sighed. He picked up a bowl of rice. "Here. Now, off to bed."

Yuki walked to her room, unhappy with her bowl of rice. "Come on, Fluff."

As she and Fluff flopped on their makeshift beds, Yuki thought about her journey so far. Her conversation with the Ox-topus. Meeting Fluff. Akiko threatening her. Twice. And the members of this organization, who had treated her so weirdly. They'll get used to me, she decided. As she took her mind off of the events of the pasts, she started to worry about the ones of the future. What's going to happen tomorrow?

Another chapter. Hooray. Sorry for the grammar mistakes and bad sentences. English teachers, advert your eyes! A little boring, but will get better, hopefully. Again, more soon! Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto at all. Just wanted to clarify that.

Yuki awoke, dreading what was to come. Surprisingly, a bucket of water did not wake her this morning, which was an improvement. When she made it to the main room, only Akiko was left. She was eating a bowl of miso soup and on the table, was two bowls of rice. Yuki took one, unhappily. The two ate together in silence, until Fluff came in, wolfing down the other rice bowl in an instant. He then lay down to wait for Yuki.

"Where's Kaede?" Yuki asked as she ate. "Is he training me today?"

Akiko groaned. "Sadly, no, that's my job this time. Kaede's busy on a mission." She sighed. "Ugh, I so should have killed you when I had the chance."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're so annoying. You have to learn everything and you do it so slowly."

"Is that what Kaede meant yesterday, when he said it was a 'big day' today?"

"In part, yes, but there's one other thing he forgot to mention." Akiko made a particularly frightening smile. "You'll be fighting **me**, today."

Yuki gulped down the last of her rice. "You? That shouldn't be too hard."

Akiko snorted. "It's not like you can fight me at full strength anyways. Your leg is still hurt isn't it? Did you get a scrape?"

"Actually its been a lot better recently, thank you for asking. And I can take you any day."

Akiko slammed down her bowl. "Then let's get started, shall we?"

Yuki slammed her bowl as well. "Let's!"

Fluff glanced back and forth between the two girls, worriedly. They had moved to a clearing outside, so that the hideout wouldn't be damaged. The clearing was large and filled with grass to give them plenty of space to move around.

"The fight is over when one of us can no longer fight," Akiko stated, "that will be you, of course."

"Yeah, right," Yuki tossed her hair, "you're going down."

And the fight began. Akiko pulled out her knife. "This is all I need to take you down." She screamed as she ran towards Yuki. The shorter girl dodged and took out her ice kunai. "We'll see about that." The two parried back and forth with their blades, seemingly evenly matched. Suddenly, as Akiko prepared to strike, Yuki's foot got caught in the meadow and her block missed as she fell to the ground. She felt pain in her left shoulder as Akiko's knife pierced her skin. She also felt pain in her leg where she had injured it a few days ago.

"Still think this will be easy, princess?" Akiko asked holding her blood-splattered blade. "You're left handed aren't you? That will make this especially easy."

"I can manage," Yuki said, trying to ignore her wounds as she stood back up. However, her foot got caught again, and she fell back down.

"Foolish girl, did you even try to guess what powers I could use before we started the fight? Oh, that's right, you can't read my mind." Akiko laughed maniacally. "Like you ever had a chance of winning." She lunged towards Yuki, knife going for her left hand.

Yuki cried out in agony as the blade stabbed her hand. "You won't be using that arm for kunai any time soon," Akiko said as she sprung away. Yuki looked at her kunai, once beautiful, but now covered in blood. She felt her anger building up inside her. I will not lose to this maniac, she thought defiantly. I. Will. Not. Lose. She whipped her head around to her leg that had tripped twice now. There was a blade of grass coiled around her ankle. That was what had made her trip. She blasted the grass with cold, freezing and killing it in an instant. She stood up.

"Realized my trick?" Akiko laughed. "It's too late now, Yuki. We're in a field of grass! This is my realm! The place where I hold all the power!" The grass waved together, without the wind to move it. "You will lose."

"I WILL NOT!" Yuki cried. She unleashed the power she had been storing in herself while Akiko had been talking, freezing the entire field. Akiko gasped in surprise. "What? How did you..?" She took a step back, slipping on the ice. "But, you don't have any powers…" She looked around in confusion. "You never did anything to defend yourself before!"

Yuki took a step closer. "Well, I did now, b***h." She put her hands together, unleashing a blast of snow, freezing Akiko with its coldness. Suddenly, she felt faint. The world began to spin around her and then it all went black.

She woke in her bed with Fluff and Kaede looking down on her. "So, you're alive, ice princess." Kaede smiled. It was a real smile this time. Yuki looked around.

"How did I get here?" She asked weakly.

"Flufff carried you back to base. Akiko, too."

Yuki smiled with pleasure, remembering her battle with Akiko.

"Was what I did to her really right?" Yuki wondered. "I mean, did she really deserve that?"

"Oh yeah, she did." Kaede laughed. "She was a spy, working for some other organization that wants to keep the world at war."

"Did everyone know?"

"Yes. The reason they were so quiet was so that she didn't hear any oh our secrets. Your initiation test was to beat her up so that we could expose her for who she really was."

"Why didn't you all just beat her up yourselves? You seem plenty strong."

"Cause we needed someone to test how far you had progressed."

Yuki thought about this for a moment. "I still have so many questions to ask."

"They'll have to wait. For now, rest. You've done a good job." The last thing Yuki saw before she closed her eyes was Kaede's smile.

Yay for epic fight scenes! Hope you liked it. (Hope it was good, as well) Remember to review! Think of the starving plot mice and their children. Thanks for reading!


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